Studio Spring 2018
How might we improve pet ownership in South Dallas?
The SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) is one of the leading animal welfare agencies in the North Texas region, offering an array of animal services and educational programs to the community that they serve. They provide animal adoption, rehabilitation, spaying and neutering surgeries, low-cost vet care, and perform animal cruelty investigations. It is their mission to “provide every animal exceptional care and a loving home.”
In 2016, the city council was looking to address the issue of the loose and roaming dog population in South Dallas. The SPCA of Texas formed strategic partnerships in an effort to fix the dog problem. Funding, support systems, and a thorough network of spay-and-neuter outreaches had been in full effect in order to impact twenty-three communities. However, the issue of loose and potentially aggressive dogs continued to persist.
TEAM 1:
Maggie Inhofe | Keya Tollossa | Tania White
After field research, the team determined that while a spay or neuter procedure only takes a couple of hours, the procedure is a major surgery that includes preparation and a recovery period of up to a month. In looking for opportunities to improve this experience, the team re-imagined specific points along the animal spay/neuter journey which could help streamline the hardest parts that might prevent someone from scheduling or following through with this service. These included recommendations for:
- Appointments to be confirmed by text or via live chat.
- Offering clients discounted post-surgery boarding services and information about nearby services available.
- A new intake form used in person or online which mitigates roadblocks encountered and supports the rescheduling and cancellation process.
TEAM 2:
Caleb Kyle | Ariel Martin | Rae’Van Parson | Laura Reed | Michaela Rollins
After a variety of in-home interviews, expert interviews, and secondary research pro activists, or community members who want to take action, were targeted as key to the overall solution given their daily experience and specialized insights. It was recommended that outside organizations such as SPCA tap these resources to create a sustainable solution to the loose dog problem. This would include supplying them with what they need to be successful such as funding and community resources. With these, there were three specific recommendations:
- A program of micro-grants for project or resource-based funding.
- A new non-profit to empower the Pro Activists.
- A series of workshops hosted by Proactivists within their community to share information and best practices with others.
Team 3:
Eskinder Abebe | Matthew Barkley |Victoria Sun Esparza | Gavin Pham
This team discovered that the “neighbor across the street” would need to drive a solution and to be successful it would be critical to reach the 5 percent of the community that didn’t spay or neuter their dogs and let them roam freely. They shifted their question to be, “How might we reach the high-impact user?”
With this new question, Dog Box was designed as an approach to reach the high-impact users. The Dog Box and contents would be accessible and created with a friendly appearance targeted to the right user. This Dog Box would be mailed to households and was more than an educational campaign; it was a carefully designed experience that created an opportunity for new information to be received openly and positively by a high-impact user. The box included food bags, specialized packaging, tip cards, and response sheets.
